That is a tough call, Mark, not made easier by knowing you are right.

The LED light idea is a dead end for me, I think. In order to make my goal of <3,000 kWh for the previous year, I have (with her permission) run an extension cord from my downstairs neighbor up to my level, and am running the computer system and associated peripherals plus my refrigerator off of her electric meter. The entire remainder of the household is using slightly less than one kWh per day, and lighting is only a small portion of that. LEDs aren't going to save me much, certainly not on a cost/benefit basis.

So... I am either back to looking at solar panels again, or looking at a more efficient computer. My computer with its peripherals (modem, router, two telephone base stations) uses 220 Watts. The peripherals use 30 of that, the monitor another 36, which brings the tower down to 154 Watts. That tower contains a dual-core 3gHz processor, 4 GB RAM, four hard drives totaling a bit over four terabytes, plus a sound card that replaced the on-board sound when it died, and a pretty good (256 MB) graphics card. The hard drives stay, that's non-negotiable except the system drive might be replaced with an SSD. A replacement computer would have to meet or exceed these specs performance wise.

How much power could I save? Four drives plus 4 GB RAM and a 3 gHz dual core processor (or equivalent) are gonna eat a fair number of electrons. Even if it used only half the present power, that would save me just 77 watts. Of course, 77 watts, 15 hours a day comes to about 35 kWh per month... That's a tough call on a cost/benefit basis, because it comes to less than $2.50 per month, assuming I stay out of DAC through some other means.

At this point the solar panels are looking better. I haven't priced new computers in a long time, but I have studied the local solar panel situation extensively and made up a very intense spreadsheet (I can hear Bitt chuckling clear down here in Mexico ) to analyze cost/benefit, and a 2-panel setup would cost me $1820 (USD) including tax and installation, would keep me out of DAC and save me $609 per year. It would amortize in three years, after which it would continue paying back at $600-$700 per year as the cost for electricity went up.

Ooops. I just talked to the solar people. They require a minimum of six panels in order to make enough voltage to tie into the grid. That doesn't look so good, with a $5500 up-front cost and an eight-year amortization. Ironically six panels doesn't save me significantly more money per year than two panels, because even two panels keeps me at the lowest rate per kWh.

Sigh... Back to square one.

tanstaafl.